So where do YOU think we'll finish?

[portslade seagull]

It makes me laugh how every season too many NSC posters get carried away and think that we will get promoted, that the stadium of trees will motivate the players to big wins & that the Albion have super powers, the best training facilities & support staff to walk this division.

A sense of reality please!

Gus has made a few good signings but don't think for one moment that we are stronger than Southampton, Sheff W, Charlton, Huddersfield, MKD, or Peterborogh to just name 5 teams!

The likes of Swindon, Plymouth, Brentford & Yeovil will hardly be quaking in their boots when they will see Holroyd (the worst striker, lol in this league) & Hart on the bench either!!

We all know what is needed to get this sleeping club to the next level & we are not there yet. If we can have a season without worrying at least once about slipping into the bottom 4 then that will be progress?

With Murray out for the first two league games, unless we can get a quality replacement I believe that by the end of August we will be in the bottom third of the table. At best with a few 0-0 draws to our points tally.

Agree Mr Foster

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

It makes me laugh how every season too many NSC posters get carried away and think that we will get promoted, that the stadium of trees will motivate the players to big wins & that the Albion have super powers, the best training facilities & support staff to walk this division.

A sense of reality please!

Gus has made a few good signings but don't think for one moment that we are stronger than Southampton, Sheff W, Charlton, Huddersfield, MKD, or Peterborogh to just name 5 teams!

The likes of Swindon, Plymouth, Brentford & Yeovil will hardly be quaking in their boots when they will see Holroyd (the worst striker, lol in this league) & Hart on the bench either!!

We all know what is needed to get this sleeping club to the next level & we are not there yet. If we can have a season without worrying at least once about slipping into the bottom 4 then that will be progress?

With Murray out for the first two league games, unless we can get a quality replacement I believe that by the end of August we will be in the bottom third of the table. At best with a few 0-0 draws to our points tally.

or creating an A grade

 

[Chesney Christ]

no creativity, no strikers, no goals from Crofts in midfield (sparrow MIGHT get a few?) - sounds like we've just replaced Virgo with a clone.

El-abd and Elphicks form at the end of last season was freakish - it won't last.

I just imagine we'll crumble under the expectation and come November people will be questioning the management team.


We won't go down - Murray, Bennett, Navarro and the full backs are too good for that. But the rest of the squad is very ordinary indeed, and there's no strength in depth.

Still, I suppose the argie might turn out to be good, and Bloom might get his cheque book out now time is running out to bring players in. But I can't see us finding the 25 goal a season striker when we're re-signing Hart and are trialing shit like that Dobson bloke who's scored less career goals than Craig Davies.

But we finished last season in play-off form. Why do you believe that form will suddenly drop dramatically? What have you seen/heard from the training ground that makes you think that the same set of players who excelled in the last few months of last season will suddenly stop playing? If Gus got them playing, why can he not keep them playing well?

The way I see it is this:

We have replaced Crofts with Sparrow, who easily looks a better player than Crofts and has a better goal-scoring record.

Greer looks a better player than Virgo, and we could still retain Lua Lua. Gus has stated we are still in for another striker, so our squad hasn't weakened at all.

If our squad is as good (if not better) than the end of last season, why will play-off form become relegation form? That would make no sense whatsoever.

 

[Sheebo]

7th - 11th.

I'm not letting myself get carried away with promotion dreams like I have the last 2 yrs only for us to be in relegation dog fights. Top half of table and a flirt with the play offs I think...

 

[Gwylan]

But we finished last season in play-off form. Why do you believe that form will suddenly drop dramatically? What have you seen/heard from the training ground that makes you think that the same set of players who excelled in the last few months of last season will suddenly stop playing?

Does last season matter? We just missed the play-offs in 2007-2008, having just missed the play-offs and were toilet the following season. Or look at 1990-91 season when we got in the play-offs and were relegated the next year

I bet football is littered with similar examples

(I'm not sayng we're going to do badly BTW but I wouldn't base it on last season's results)

 

[Chesney Christ]

Does last season matter? We just missed the play-offs in 2007-2008, having just missed the play-offs and were toilet the following season.

Thats a terrible example, because we sacked the manager who nearly got us to the play offs and replaced him with a dinosaur who ripped out the spine of the team and replaced them with donkeys.

My point is this; why would players who were playing brilliantly for a manager suddenly start playing utterly shit for the same manager? No logic to that whatsoever, and I would be happy to bet with you that we will definitely be in the top half of the table at Christmas.

Anyway..... my prediction: losing in the play offs.

 

[Chesney Christ]

Does last season matter? We just missed the play-offs in 2007-2008, having just missed the play-offs and were toilet the following season. Or look at 1990-91 season when we got in the play-offs and were relegated the next year

I bet football is littered with similar examples

(I'm not sayng we're going to do badly BTW but I wouldn't base it on last season's results)

I would completely agree that football is littered with examples of this happening, but I would say that it is generally when there has been some upheaval at the club (top players sold, change of manager, problems with the board, money etc). We have no such problem, so I cannot see why our form would drop by such a hugely drastic amount. To go from play off form to relegation form involves something going seriously wrong. If anything, our squad is better than that which we ended last season with.

 

[empire]

72 posters think we will either go up,or playoffs

 

[Mackenzie]

First.

We're awesome.